Instruments
415 articles
Sandy Nelson: Life-lines of Sandy Nelson
Profile and Interview by uncredited writer, New Musical Express, 26 January 1962
Real name: Sander L. Nelson. ...
Chet Atkins, Floyd Cramer: Floyd Cramer and Chet Atkins: The Quiet Men from Nashville, Tennessee
Profile and Interview by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 15 September 1962
THE TWO most dominant figures in the Nashville, Tennessee, music scene – a scene noted for loud noises – are QUIET men. Chet Atkins, we ...
The Righteous Brothers: Righteous Brothers Do Play
Interview by uncredited writer, Beat Instrumental, March 1965
WHEN THE Righteous Brothers made their recent visit to Britain, coinciding with their tremendous number one hit 'You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'', they didn't bring ...
John Entwistle, The Who: Player of the Month: John Entwistle
Interview by Kevin Swift, Beat Instrumental, January 1966
THE DARK and deep member of the dynamic Who gets very, very angry when people take hefty swipes at his group for alleged musical incompetence. ...
Spencer Davis Group, Steve Winwood: Player of the Month: Stevie Winwood
Interview by Kevin Swift, Beat Instrumental, February 1966
THERE COULDN'T possibly be a bloke who is more "in" than our Player Of The Month. Stevie Winwood has been called a prodigy, the English ...
The Small Faces: Player of the Month: Ian McLagan
Interview by Kevin Swift, Beat Instrumental, April 1966
HERE'S A bloke who likes to stay in the background. He enjoys keeping just below the surface of the Small Faces' sound, filling in, driving ...
Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, April 1966
BY NOW, EVERYONE must be aware that records just don't sound like they did 10 years ago — 3 years ago in fact. ...
Report by Nick Jones, Melody Maker, 28 May 1966
NOW YOU'RE NEVER ALONE — WITH A SITAR ...
Sleeve notes by Neil Slaven, Decca Records, July 1966
IN JOHN MAYALL and Eric Clapton we have the two most dedicated blues musicians in this country. Together with John McVie and Hughie Flint, they ...
Cream: "I'm not a great guitarist," insists Eric Clapton
Interview by Kevin Swift, Beat Instrumental, August 1966
I CAME face-to-face with the guy who is acknowledged to be the god of British blues guitar in his own small heaven — the top ...
Chris Farlowe, Albert Lee: Player of the Month: Al Lee
Interview by Kevin Swift, Beat Instrumental, September 1966
THIS THUNDERBIRD guitarist started playing in 1959. "I suppose it was Lonnie Donegan who started me off," he says. In '60 he was already pro., ...
Spencer Davis Group, Steve Winwood: Spencer Davis Group: Winwood 66
Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 17 September 1966
Frustrated or happy? Both, reveals Chris Welch ...
Jimmy Page, The Yardbirds: Yardbird Jimmy Page says, 'Open Your Mind'
Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, March 1967
In the December issue of H.P., you read a little background on Jimmy Page, who is the new Yardbird. He started off on bass to ...
Interview by David Griffiths, Record Mirror, 9 September 1967
OUR (guaranteed GENUINE) Mitch — the one who plays drums as part of the Jimi Hendrix Experience — went over to USA with the Experience ...
Booker T & The MGs: The Stax Story (part 4): Al Jackson
Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, December 1967
BORN NOVEMBER 27, 1935, in Memphis, Tennessee, Al studied drums in high school, and played with his father's band until he formed his own nine-piece ...
The Beatles, Ravi Shankar: A New Development — An Electric Sitar
Report by uncredited writer, KRLA Beat, 2 December 1967
ELEVEN YEARS ago a pixieish Indian named Ravi Shankar hit these shores. His sole objective in coming here was to make the western world aware ...
Booker T & The MGs: The Stax Story (part 5): Duck Dunn
Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, January 1968
DONALD V. DUNN was born on November 24, 1941, in Memphis, Tennessee and he learned to play the bass in high school. He now resides ...
Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich: The Case For Drums
Comment by Chris Welch, Music Maker, February 1968
CHRIS WELCH, who found worldwide fame as a drummer on the South London wedding circuit, defends the most maligned section of the pop and jazz ...
Cream: Jack & Ginger Make The Cream Work
Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, October 1968
Ginger: I was born August 19, 1939. I was schooled in Southeast London. I got involved with music as soon as I left school. I've been ...
Cream: Making The Cream Work, part 2
Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, November 1968
IN A BRITISH interview recently, Clapton denied the Cream breakup but added that the group can't last forever and each member had personal ambitions. Eric ...
Interview by uncredited writer, Beat Instrumental, December 1968
EIGHTEEN-year-old Carl Palmer has musical ideas far in excess of his age. He plays drums in the Crazy World of Arthur Brown, a progressive, inventive ...
Billy Cobham, Horace Silver: Billy Cobham: The Pulse Behind the Horace Silver 5
Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 14 December 1968
IT'S BEEN a very good year for drummers. ...
Vanilla Fudge: Tim Bogert — Vanilla Fudge Bass
Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, September 1969
HP: What kind of equipment do you play? ...
Booker T & The MGs, Cream, Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Paul McCartney: Hey, Mr. Bassman
Overview by Lenny Kaye, Fusion, 19 September 1969
THE ELECTRIC revolution that helped to spawn rock and roll also helped to popularize a whole new set of instruments to take along on its ...
Charlie Watts: "The One-Off Merchant"
Interview by Lon Goddard, Record Mirror, 18 October 1969
"I'M BASICALLY lazy," said Charlie. “I've never found something I really wanted to do outside the Stones. I know it must sound boring, but it's ...
Report and Interview by Ian Dove, Billboard, 24 January 1970
NEW YORK — Synthesizer inventor Robert Moog plans to have Moog "performing instruments" on the market within three to six months, priced up to $2,000. ...
Mike Cooper and the bottleneck revival
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Melody Maker, 14 February 1970
MIKE COOPER, who has, in recent years, revived interest in the bottleneck and knifestyle of playing, uses two 1930s National steel guitars, as well as ...
Han Bennink, John Stevens: It All Began With Chick Webb
Report by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 14 March 1970
SINCE THE days when Chick Webb arrived at a gig armed with gongs, tubular bells, Chinese temple blocks, and an African sunset painted on the ...
Led Zeppelin: ASK-IN with a LED ZEPPELIN a week: Bassist JOHN PAUL JONES
Interview by Ritchie Yorke, New Musical Express, 4 April 1970
Part one of an exciting New Series by RITCHIE YORKE ...
Interview by uncredited writer, Beat Instrumental, July 1970
ON THE POPULARITY polls, instrumentalists come and go. Jet Harris, one-time bass player with the Shadows, used to win especially when he broke away ...
Atomic Rooster: More Respect For The Rock Organ
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 10 October 1970
VINCENT CRANE, ambitious leader of Atomic Rooster, firmly believes that the full potential of the organ has yet to be exploited within a rock concept. ...
Hawkwind: When It Comes To Mind-Blowing, Hawkwind Are Really Into It
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 17 October 1970
HAWKWIND MAY not be the world's most affluent group, or the world's most successful group, but they are certainly one of the most mind-blowing. ...
Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 27 February 1971
SOON after meeting Dee Allen (real name Thomas Sylvester Allen), and comparing him quickly with the rest of War, you are likely to guess why ...
Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 3 April 1971
Michael Watts talks to sessionman supreme NICKY HOPKINS ...
The Byrds, The Kentucky Colonels: The Byrds: Byrd Watching (part 2)
Interview by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 8 May 1971
THE COUNTRY consonants of Clarence White's guitar have fooled a lot of people — me included — into thinking that the man must have come ...
Bobby Keys, The Rolling Stones: The Rolling Stones: Bobby Keys
Report and Interview by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 8 May 1971
"IT'S BOBBY Keys, the greatest saxophone player in the world," said Mick Jagger. And Bobby smiled modestly towards me. ...
Interview by Danny Holloway, Sounds, 6 November 1971
SINCE HIS appearance with John Lennon in Toronto as part of the Plastic Ono Band, Alan White has had a hectic and enjoyable career over ...
Billy Joel: Rock Pianist Gets All Abuse: Joel
Interview by Ian Dove, Billboard, 25 December 1971
NEW YORK — Equipment for amplifying pianos lags "far behind" corresponding equipment for other instruments in the rock field, despite the fact that use of ...
Stevie Wonder: Stevie's Moog Music...
Profile and Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 22 January 1972
"I never did realise it would take me so long to lose that 'Little' Stevie Wonder tag. There are times when I wish I'd only ...
Interview by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 4 March 1972
ONE OF that tiny but slowly-expanding number of albums which points out a genuine new direction for the future is Zero Time, by Tonto's Expanding ...
Walter/Wendy Carlos: The Walter Carlos Sonic Boom
Interview by Roy Hollingworth, Melody Maker, 23 September 1972
"There's music in the sighing of a reed; There's music in the gushing of a rill; There's music in all things, if man had ears; The Earth is ...
Jeff Beck: Beck Looks Back (part 1)
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 28 October 1972
Page and Zeppelin, Stewart, the old band and the new... ...
Harvey Mandel: Fluctuating Intensity
Report and Interview by Jim Esposito, Zoo World, 25 November 1972
HARVEY MANDEL is a conversationalist of flucuatingly intensities. Sometimes he's right with you, sometimes he's way ahead, and other times he spaces out and you ...
Profile and Interview by Rob Bowman, Beetle, 30 November 1972
ELLEN McILWAINE immediately hits you in two ways; she is completely original and totally alluring. She is far and away one of the best female ...
Walter/Wendy Carlos: Walter Carlos: Sonic Seasonings (CBS Quadraphonic)
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 27 January 1973
HERE'S ONE for Tangerine Dream freaks. ...
Ben Gansell, Freelance Piano Tuner
Report and Interview by Jim Esposito, Rock, 7 May 1973
BEN GANSELL is a stocky, heavy-set man of medium height with a full head of bristly hair which he keeps conscientiously trimmed just a shade ...
Roy Buchanan: The Guitarist's Guitarists' Guitarist
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 19 May 1973
THE WORD is out and the message is self-explanatory. Buchanan, they say; Roy Buchanan, they mean. And if you've missed this paean that's currently ringing ...
Profile by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 26 May 1973
WHEN HE'S playing nice, you couldn't possibly hope to hear more creative or more exciting rock guitar playing than that of Jeff Beck. He was ...
Emerson Lake & Palmer: Carl Palmer 'ELPing Himself
Interview by Caroline Boucher, Disc, 23 June 1973
SO YOU thought Keith Emerson was a flashy organist? You should see Carl Palmer these days. He's got a two-tone Perspex rostrum which revolves when ...
Keith Richards, The Rolling Stones: The Sound of the Stones
Profile and Interview by James Fox, The Sunday Times Magazine, August 1973
ALL THROUGH THE night while they rehearsed for the European tour, Keith Richards stood there in a trance with himself, rocking slowly backwards and forwards, ...
Danny Kortchmar, The Section: Viva Section!
Profile and Interview by uncredited writer, Beat Instrumental, November 1973
"YIKES, WHAT mellow Caballeros," reads the poster for the Section's first album. The British public discovered just how mellow these Caballeros are when they played ...
Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, December 1973
AMONG GUITARISTS, Jeff Beck has few peers. Bubbly, elusive, humoresque guitar work has been his trademark since his first performances with The Yardbirds over half-a-dozen ...
Jesse Ed Davis: An Interview with Jesse Ed Davis
Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, March 1974
JESSE ED DAVIS plays guitar like a man with a mission. You probably wouldn't find him listed in any guitar polls, but you'd sure as ...
Interview by Stephen Demorest, Circus, June 1974
After years of drumming in a variety of hard rocking bands, Carl Palmer decided there had to be more to playing than simply marking time. ...
Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, June 1974
ANDY POWELL, TED TURNER, and Martin Turner form the front instrumental line of Englands Wishbone Ash, a quartet (rounded out with Steve Upton on drums) ...
Interview by Richard Harrington, Unicorn Times, September 1974
SOMEWHERE ALONG the line, guitarist Danny Gatton played in a group called Fat Chance. That name may have been appropriate for the gentle portliness of ...
Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi: Overcoming the Impossible
Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, October 1974
BLACK SABBATH lead guitarist Tony Iommi stands well over six-feet tall and plays like he has six fingers. Not bad, since several years ago Tony ...
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 12 October 1974
JIMMY PAGE talks about guitars he has owned, the development of his style and reminisces on those early Yardbird and Led Zep days ...
Jeff Beck: Music And Cars And Sex…
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 9 November 1974
A DIGESTIVE BISCUIT is poised, somewhat uneasily, a few inches away from Jeff Beck's celebrated nasty leer. ...
Can: Imagine 20 bulls and cows going up a hill...
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 30 November 1974
...or learn guitar the avant garde way! MICHAEL KAROLI of Can, talking to CHRIS SALEWICZ ...
Booker T. Jones, The Persuasions: Booker T., the Persuasions: Bottom Line, New York NY
Live Review by Vernon Gibbs, The Village Voice, 6 January 1975
Booker T. and the Persuasions: Black Folk Music ...
Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin: Jimmy Page: Guitars I Have Known
Interview by Nick Kent, Creem, February 1975
(As a guitarist, Jimmy Page has all the bases covered. Clapton has that soaring fluid thing down pat, Beck is the absolute Crowned Prince of ...
Alphonse Mouzon: Meet the Seaside Landlady's Nightmare
Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 12 April 1975
Your delicate NME representative cowers under his seat in the hotel lounge while Alphonse Mouzon ('my real name's Manny Finkelbaum') lives up to his heavy rep as ...
Bernard Purdie: Purdie's School of Drumming
Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 26 April 1975
Pete Makowski talks to top American session drummer Bernard Purdie ...
The James Gang, Joe Walsh: Joe Walsh: Rock Master
Profile and Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, June 1975
JOE WALSH plays with the grace of George Harrison and the vehemence of Pete Townshend, a combination which earmarked his playing as lead guitarist of ...
Brian Eno, Robert Fripp, King Crimson: Robert Fripp: Retiring Fripp
Interview by Jon Tiven, International Musician & Recording World, June 1975
Fripp's King Crimson brought a new meaning to the word "tight". For a short time the band represented a pinnacle of British rock achievement. Since ...
Jeff Beck: Another exclusive in which Beck reveals his true colours
Interview by Jon Tiven, International Musician & Recording World, July 1975
JEFF BECK'S reputation as the world's greatest guitarist, the planet's most erratic musician, and the Universe's most elusive character precedes him. With a career full ...
Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan: Skunk Hunting In W1
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 19 July 1975
THERE'S A delicately detailed brass rubbing of Burlington House above the bed-head in room 420 at the Inn On The Park. Some rock musicians would've ...
The Brecker Brothers: Everythin's All White
Profile by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 23 August 1975
...
Canned Heat: Bass Guitarist Larry Taylor
Profile and Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, October 1975
LARRY TAYLOR is not one of your loud bass players; rather, he opts for minimum volume so he can punctuate and accent his playing with ...
Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, October 1975
THOUGH DAVE MASON admits hes a songwriter first and a guitarist second, his work on the electric instrument has tagged him as a standout player ...
Utopia: The CREEM Synthesizer Lesson
Guide by Robert Duncan, Creem, October 1975
NOW, BEFORE we begin with today's lesson, I would like to relate a few facts about the synthesizer's history and the men who so valiantly ...
Overview by Davitt Sigerson, Black Music, November 1975
Arps, Moogs, Rhythm Boxes... the sounds of black music have never been more complex. DAVITT SIGERSON explains all. ...
Art Blakey: "All This Rock Noise. It's Gotta Go. It's Not True."
Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 8 November 1975
Sez who? Sez ART BLAKEY. Art's got an opinion on most subjects. So d'you wanna hear a discourse on world problems? Drummers who use huge ...
Utopia: The CREEM Synthesizer Lesson, Part II
Guide by Robert Duncan, Creem, December 1975
FOR THOSE of you who were holding your breath, sorry the column didn't make it into last issue, but we did give you that massive ...
Blue Oyster Cult: Blue Oyster's Buck Dharma
Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, January 1976
DONALD "BUCK Dharma" Roeser is the lead guitar player in the New York based band, Blue Oyster Cult, a driving and loud outfit which has ...
John Martyn, Danny Thompson: Danny Thompson: Man of Many Parts
Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 21 February 1976
THE NEWS that Danny Thompson is getting back into jazz will please the many who have missed the big, fat tone of his bass during ...
Alan White, Yes: Alan White: Can A White Man Sing.....?
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 13 March 1976
"NOW TELL ME honestly, what did you really expect when you came to meet me?" The disarming question is posed as yet another Yes album ...
Profile and Interview by John Tobler, ZigZag, April 1976
IF ANY OF YOU missed seeing Emmylou Harris and the Hot Band on their recent tour, you were either very unlucky or very foolish. I ...
Bill Bruford, Genesis: Bill Bruford: Have Drum Will Travel
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 10 April 1976
IT WAS IN the unlikely setting of the Una Billings School of Dancing's basement that the partnership which will be titillating the timpani of drum ...
Rick Wakeman: Wakeman On The Attack With His Birotron
Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 10 July 1976
RICK WAKEMAN is one of a very exclusive breed the International Heroes of the Electric Keyboard. For Rick's meteoric career has been bound up ...
Junior Walker & the All Stars: Jr. Walker: 'Everybody's Just Ready For Me To Blow.'
Interview by Colman Andrews, Phonograph Record, October 1976
JR. WALKER is the man who, it might be said, invented disco-jazz. Ten years ago or more, he was creating a kind of music Ramsey ...
Jimi Hendrix, Noel Redding: Noel Redding: More Than Just Jimi Hendrix's Bass Player
Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, October 1976
IT IS INEVITABLE when dealing with such a visible force as Jimi Hendrix that persons who were close to him – and even played music ...
Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, October 1976
RONNIE Montrose, guitarist at various times for a melange of bands Edgar Winter (where he was replaced by Rick Derringer), Van Morrison, and Boz ...
James Booker: A Winner Never Quits, A Quitter Never Wins
Profile and Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, November 1976
'THE BLACK LIBERATCHI' That's what it says on the card and you can tell that it's going to be one of those interviews when you ...
Interview by Barry Cain, Record Mirror, 26 November 1976
The guitar hero's guitar hero ...
Mick Ronson: The Intense Guitar of Mick Ronson
Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, December 1976
THE THREE-WORD title of Mick Ronson's second solo album also happens to accurately describe his approach to the guitar: Play, Don't Worry. ...
Interview by John Tobler, Rock's Backpages audio, Fall 1976
The great guitar player talks about the musicians who influenced him; his friendship with John Fahey; the Rising Sons, and Ed Cassidy and Taj Mahal; his encounter with Captain Beefheart; film scores (and more) with Jack Nitzsche; other things he did and didn't do; his early Warner Bros. albums, and Depression-era songs; his unique album covers; Paradise and Lunch, and not being a songwriter; getting into Hawaiian and Tex-Mex music, and his latest album, Chicken Skin Music.
File format: mp3; file size: 51.1mb, interview length: 53' 14" sound quality: ****
Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, January 1977
FRANK ZAPPA guitarist, composer, producer, avid roller derby fan, and leader of the Mothers Of Invention is, at 36, probably the elder statesman ...
Jimi Hendrix: Jim Marshall: The Man, The Amps; Together They Revolutionized Rock and Roll
Profile and Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, February 1977
EASILY THE MOST revolutionary electric guitarist of the past decade was the late Jimi Hendrix. In many ways Jimi was the first electric guitarist in ...
Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, February 1977
LARRY CARLTON, guitarist with the famed progressive jazz-funk Crusaders, is at 28, one of the most in-demand session guitarists in Los Angeles. ...
"Brother" Jack McDuff, Jimmy McGriff, 'Big' John Patton, Jimmy Smith: Record Shops and Hammond B3s
Memoir by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 5 February 1977
RICHARD WILLIAMS Writing every week in the MM ...
Emerson Lake & Palmer: The Emerson, Lake and Palmer Tapes, Part 1: Carl Palmer
Interview by Jim Farber, Circus, 4 August 1977
AFTER FIFTEEN years as a percussionist, playing with the likes of Arthur Brown and Atomic Rooster and currently residing as the third equal partner in ...
999, The Adverts, Motorhead: Is Gaye Well Equipped? Will These Boys Show You Their Equipment?
Report and Interview by Rosalind Russell, Record Mirror, 1 October 1977
How easy is it to start your own band? How much does it cost? Rosalind Russell looks at 999's equipment and goes round the shops ...
Yes: Chris Squire: Yes, it's Great to be Home
Interview by David Hancock, Evening News, London, 15 October 1977
BEING BASS player with the best rock band in the world has its rewards. ...
Ralph MacDonald: The Sound of a Syndrum
Interview by John Swenson, Rolling Stone, 9 February 1978
RALPH MACDONALD has done for percussionists what McDonald's did for hamburgers. In a short time his collection of congas, bongos, cowbells, shakers, triangles and countless ...
Bonnie Raitt: Freebo's Travels With Bonnie
Interview by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 20 April 1978
LOS ANGELES AT AN age when most rock musicians are superstars in decline, prosperous session players, or in their fifth or so year of ...
Harvey Mason: Have Funk Will Travel
Interview by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, 9 May 1978
ONE OF the most interesting developments in recent years on the contemporary music scene has been the recognition and attention paid to those folk who ...
Jaco Pastorius: Portrait of Jaco
Interview by Steven Rosen, Player, June 1978
JACO PASTORIUS, at 26, has developed bass playing capabilities putting him at the top of the technical ladder. He combines an R&B feel with strict ...
Howard Johnson, Taj Mahal: Howard Johnson: He's Got His HoJo Working..
Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 17 June 1978
HOWARD JOHNSON has played with everybody — from Mingus and Taj Mahal to Lennon and The Band. And he won't hear a word against his ...
The Rolling Stones: Back Door Men
Interview by John Pidgeon, Melody Maker, 16 September 1978
Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman aren't exactly garrulous types. But behind the... er... stony facade lies a commitment which has kept them pumping up the ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 23 September 1978
LARRY CARLTON, super side-man should need no introduction. The weeping, fluid style that Carlton rings from his 335 has become a definitive sound on albums ...
Aerosmith: The Joe Perry Interview
Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, 1979
UNLEASHING HIGH-ENERGY rock and roll led by Steven Tylers vocals and the often dueling guitars of Joe Perry and Brad Whitford, the members of Aerosmith ...
Aynsley Dunbar, Jefferson Starship, Journey: Aynsley Dunbar: Let There Be Drums!
Interview by Howie Klein, BAM, 16 February 1979
SAN FRANCISCO – Within the world of rock and roll there are certain performers whose distinctive virtuosity transcend their individual works recorded with a particular ...
Aerosmith's Brad Whitford: Doubling On Lead And Rhythm
Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, March 1979
BRAD WHITFORD might be considered the "refined" half of Aerosmith's guitar team — he's a deliberate player, whose steady rhythm lines complement lead guitarist Joe ...
Pink Floyd: David Gilmour: Beginning A Second Decade As Lead Guitarist For Pink Floyd
Profile and Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, May 1979
DAVID GILMOUR has been playing guitar with Pink Floyd for 11 years now about one-third of his life. And for more than a decade, ...
John Fahey: The Passage Of Time In Open G And Other Stories
Interview by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 1 September 1979
A FEW WEEKS ago, in the middle of a full week for me and a nice Saturday for Shepherds Bush, I met John Fahey, who ...
Guide by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 5 January 1980
"Progress in the physical and mechanical sciences determines a progress in art." — Carlos Chavez, 1957 ...
Melissa Manchester, Tower of Power: Tower Of Power: Pro Blowing Section
Interview by Michael Goldberg, DownBeat, February 1980
THE BASIC tracks were cut in Atlanta, Georgia. The strings were arranged and overdubbed by Gene Page, and Melissa Manchester put down the lead vocal ...
Earl Klugh: P... Lucking Out In The Material World
Interview by Steve Bloom, DownBeat, March 1980
THE TERM "Second Generation Fusion," recently coined by this publication as a handle for certain younger, so-called "jazz" musicians, is nebulous at best. Some included ...
Waddy Wachtel: Confessions of a 'Mafia' Guitarist
Interview by David Gans, BAM, 7 March 1980
WADDY WACHTEL, ace guitarist and member of Peter Asher's "L.A. Mafia", has just finished the most important recording sessions of his career – his own. ...
Max Roach: Evolutionary Forces
Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 23 August 1980
A prime mover in the Bebop era, Max Roach knows all about revolution. He tells KARL DALLAS that revolution without foundation is doomed, and warns ...
Electric Guitar Pioneers Leo Fender & George Fullerton
Interview by David Gans, BAM, 29 August 1980
An Interview With Two Gentle Giants of the Music Industry ...
Interview by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 25 October 1980
"Being poor is not because money doesn’t exist and being rich doesn’t mean you know everything. But in America, art has more to do with ...
Ry Cooder: Vinyl Choice: Ry Cooder
Interview by Mick Brown, The Sunday Times Magazine, November 1980
RY COODER was once described as a "curator of American music". A fair assessment, but it hardly captures the joy and affection of his modern ...
Ry Cooder's Search For The Lost Chord
Interview by Noe Gold, Guitar Works, March 1981
Cooder gesticulates in much the same way as he articulates musically – with an emphasis that lets you know he's earned the insight. ...
The Sex Pistols, Chris Spedding: The No-Frills Attack of Chris Spedding
Interview by Van Gosse, Guitar World, May 1981
Don't ask this guitar star what gauge of strings he uses. He just might punch you in the face. ...
Moog On The State Of The Synthesizer
Report and Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 7 June 1981
ITS NOT UNUSUAL for a musician to become controversial, but it is rare for a musical instrument to be debated. Robert Moog may have envisioned ...
Interview by Peter Murphy (British), International Musician & Recording World, September 1981
JOHN MARTYN gets filed under M for Miscellaneous when it comes to the mainstream categories of popular music. His eclectic style has taken in traditional ...
James Blood Ulmer: Jazz Gets a Blood Transfusion: James Blood Ulmer
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 28 November 1981
JAMES BLOOD ULMER seemed faintly bemused by it all. Sat square in his little hotel chair like some Great Panjandrum surprised by a person of ...
Interview by J.D. Considine, Musician, December 1981
Between the pleasant song hooks and facile photogenia of the Police there lies a sophistication and urgency that has justly brought Andy Summers, Sting and Stewart Copeland to the ...
Purely Percussive: The Irresistible Rise Of Rock Drumming
Overview by Chris Welch, The History of Rock, 1982
A GLITTERING ARRAY of drums surrounded by a forest of shining stands and cymbals has been the center-piece of the rock show since the early ...
Bob Stewart: Tuba, or not tuba?
Interview by Brian Case, Melody Maker, 9 January 1982
This could be the age of the tuba players... time for the likes of BOB STEWART. Brian Case is on oom pah. ...
Fun Boy Three, Rico Rodriguez, The Specials: Rico Rodriguez: Rastaman
Profile and Interview by Deanne Pearson, The Face, February 1982
From the Wareika Hills to Top of the Pops. A profile of Rico, the Specials trombone ace, with a side order of oaths for the ...
Frank Zappa: The Frank Zappa Interview
Interview by John Swenson, Guitar World, March 1982
FRANK ZAPPA was at the Palladium in New York for his perennial Pumpkin Day concert celebration with his most loyal fans. ...
Eric Clapton: Farther Up The Road
Interview by John Hutchinson, Musician, May 1982
FEW MUSICIANS have been more misunderstood, more overburdened with great expectations and more erroneously worshipped than Eric Clapton. ...
Les Paul: 30 Years of Gibson Les Paul: A Loving Look at an American Classic
Retrospective by David Gans, BAM, 21 May 1982
THERE'S SOMETHING very special about the look, feel and sound of a Gibson Les Paul guitar. Ask anyone who's ever owned or played one, or ...
Interview by John Hutchinson, In Dublin, June 1982
WITHIN HOURS of arriving from Glasgow, Ry Cooder walked into a room in Jury's Hotel wearing a black track suit, with a towel bundled under ...
Grateful Dead: Phil Lesh's Unbroken Changes
Interview by David Gans, Musician, November 1982
The Grateful Dead's Mad Professor of the Bass ...
Book Excerpt by John Tobler, Stuart Grundy, The Guitar Greats (BBC Books), 1983
AT THE START of the 1980s, the rock band which was generally accepted, if not as the most popular group in the world, then as ...
Book Excerpt by John Tobler, Stuart Grundy, 'The Guitar Greats' (BBC Books), 1983
CARLOS SANTANA has continuously led the band that bears his name for nearly fifteen years, and maintained a substantial worldwide popularity, something which requires an ...
Elvis Presley, Emmylou Harris, James Burton, Rick Nelson: James Burton
Book Excerpt by Stuart Grundy, John Tobler, 'The Guitar Greats' (BBC Books), 1983
ONE OF THE GREAT rock'n'roll guitarists of the 1950s, but a man who remained virtually unknown to all but the cognoscenti until comparatively recently, is ...
Interview by John Tobler, Stuart Grundy, The Guitar Greats (BBC Books), 1983
In 1969, The Who toured Britain, dragging around a support act who were, to say the least, an unknown quantity to all but a very ...
Book Excerpt by John Tobler, Stuart Grundy, 'The Guitar Greats', 1983
WHEN WE MET Steve Miller in the Seattle studio where he mostly works these days, he was planning to make more than one album ...
Retrospective by Lenny Kaye, The History of Rock, 1983
Pedal steel power from country pickers ...
Crosby and Nash, Don Henley, Danny Kortchmar: Danny Kortchmar: The Standup Rocker
Interview by Dave Zimmer, Record, March 1983
"I HATE folk music, I always have," snaps Danny Kortchmar. Such a revelation is surprising, in view of the fact that Kortchmar (aka "Kootch") has ...
Rock Sax: Resurgence Of The Saxophone
Overview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 6 March 1983
THE SAX IS BACK.Honking saxophones played a major part in shaping '50s rock 'n' roll, but the instrument's role was virtually eliminated by the guitar ...
Interview by Michael Goldberg, Musician, May 1983
IT HAPPENS all the time. Some well-meaning rock fan comes up to guitarist Albert Lee and starts telling him he's a great player. "And man, ...
Robert Fripp, The Police, Andy Summers: Andy Summers Unmasked
Interview by Michael Goldberg, DownBeat, July 1983
HIS IMAGE is pure pop. Shaggy blond hair (dyed) in a modified Beatles cut. Mod clothes that might have come from England's trendy King's Road: ...
Duane Eddy and A Band He Couldn't Refuse
Profile and Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 27 July 1983
DUANE EDDY's "twangy" guitar sound on hits like 'Rebel-Rouser' established him as a major star during the golden era of rock instrumentals, so his return ...
James Jamerson: Motown's Unsung Hero
Obituary by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 28 August 1983
THE EMPHASIS IN pop falls on people in the spotlight but some of the biggest contributions to our pop culture come from the musicians who ...
Carlos Alomar, David Bowie: Carlos Alomar: Hard Driving Anchor Man For The David Bowie Show
Profile and Interview by Gene Santoro, Guitar World, January 1984
IMAGINE THE fairy-tale scene this way, since this is how it actually happened: It is 1973, the setting is RCA's recording studios in New York ...
Van Halen: Eddie Van Halen drops the bomb on Heavy Metal
Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar World, January 1984
SIX ALBUMS AGO (including the one yet to be released). Van Halen issued its first record. It was dramatic, intense and bold. and contained within ...
David Williams, Michael Jackson: David Williams: A Slight Case Of No Credit
Report by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 15 January 1984
Session guitarist David Williams' name was left off Thriller album. ...
Great Polysynths For Under $2,000
Overview by J.D. Considine, Musician, February 1984
Making Trickle-Down Economics Work for You ...
AC/DC: Angus Young: The Man In Short Pants Is Long On Guitar Chops
Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar World, March 1984
...but don't ask him what equipment he uses. ...
Queen: Brian May Brings Out the Stars
Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar World, March 1984
The Queen guitarist brought together some heavies with Eddie Van Halen on guitar and Phil Chen on bass for his Star Fleet Project. ...
Miles Davis, Marcus Miller, Luther Vandross: Marcus Miller Gets Around
Interview by J.D. Considine, Musician, May 1984
THE FUNKY THROUGH-LINE BEHIND LUTHER VANDROSS & ARETHA; THE JAZZY AGITATOR BEHIND MILES, GROVER & SANBORN ...
Jerry Jemmott: Session Bassist — The Groovemaster: Jerry Jemmott
Interview by Gene Santoro, Guitar Player, May 1984
WHILE HIS name may not ring any bells, you've heard his bass before, setting the groove for Aretha Franklin, B.B. King, Wilson Pickett, Roberta Flack, ...
Herbie Hancock, Kashif, Raydio: The Synthesizer: Instrument, Not The Player, Changes Music
Report and Interview by Vernon Gibbs, Billboard, 16 June 1984
HERBIE HANCOCK, Kashif, and Ray Parker Jr. praise the impact of the synthesizer on black music, feeling its unlimited sound potential and ability to provide ...
Santana: Paul Reed Smith's High-Class Hybrid
Interview by J.D. Considine, Musician, July 1984
Bridging the Age-old Gap Between Strat and Paul ...
The System, Matthew Wilder: Rhythmic Self-Determination
Report and Interview by David Gans, Record, July 1984
Better songwriting through drum machines ...
Les Paul: The inimitable Les Paul: retired since 1979, the Master Tinkerer is back in the groove
Interview by Gene Santoro, Pulse!, September 1984
LESTER POLFUS may not be a name to conjure with, but Les Pau! certainly is. Among his many accomplishments: the invention of the Les Paul ...
Gary Moore: Guitar on a Rampage
Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar World, November 1984
The Irish terror has been compared to Beck, Van Halen and every whippersnapper coming up on the circuit. ...
Chic, Nile Rodgers: Nile Rodgers of Chic: '80s Funk with 60s Roots
Interview by Gene Santoro, Guitar Player, November 1984
GUITARISTS SINCE Charlie Christian have spent a lot of time and effort trying to play guitar like a horn. Nile Rodgers does it differently; he ...
Chuck Berry, Al Green, Willie Mitchell: Willie Mitchell (1985) [transcript]
Transcript of audio interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 1985
This is a transcript of Barney's audio interview with Willie. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...
Jeff Beck: Twenty Years of Rock And Roll Power
Interview by Gene Santoro, Guitar World, January 1985
IT'S BEEN a long time since anybody's heard from Jeff Beck. With the exception of the ten-date ARMS tour of 1984, his last time on ...
Richard Thompson: Rockin' Guitar In The Celt Tradition
Interview by Gene Santoro, DownBeat, February 1985
IT'S NOT that he's unknown, exactly. Time magazine featured him and then-wife Linda in its August 30, 1982 issue, saying that his music "has the ...
Allan Holdsworth: Guitarist Making Up Lost Time
Report and Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 15 February 1985
HOW DOES ALLAN Holdsworth react to being labeled a "guitarist's guitarist"? ...
Lou Reed, Richard Hell, Robert Quine: Robert Quine: Red Red Quine
Interview by Richard Kick, ZigZag, April 1985
WILD MEN of rock come and wild men of rock fizzle out. Or, rebels don't their voices just fade away. Robert Quine, mild mannered ...
Interview by Rob Tannenbaum, Musician, June 1985
Pop Royalty's First-Call Bassist Is Into More Than Keeping Time. ...
Jimi Hendrix: James Marshall Hendrix: Undisputed Master of the Electric Guitar
Interview by Gene Santoro, Guitar World, September 1985
Every guitarist today — from Coryell to Steve Stevens — has been marked by the stamp of Purple Haze genius. Sixteen axmen explain Hendrix' influence in their ...
David Bowie, Chic, Madonna, Nile Rodgers: Nile Rodgers: Sophisticated Funk
Interview by Gene Santoro, DownBeat, September 1985
IN FUNKLAND there are many traditions, only two of which need concern us right now. The first comprises guitarists who could be described as Rhythm ...
Joan Armatrading, Jimmy Page, Paul Young: Pino Palladino Doesn't Fret
Interview by Rob Tannenbaum, Musician, October 1985
Paul Young's Bassist Shines Through The Screaming Hordes ...
Glenn Branca: "Sometimes I Wished My Fist Was A Sledgehammer"
Profile and Interview by Mark Dery, High Performance, Spring 1985
Can a microtonal man from Harrisburg, Pa., find happiness in the '80s when his music sounds like a well-tempered band saw? ...
Richard Hell, Robert Quine, Lou Reed: Robert Quine: Newark's Reverent Iconoclast
Interview by Gene Santoro, Guitar Player, January 1986
"YOU'VE GOT to hear this," insists Robert Quine, as he finds what he's looking for on a wall full of shelves sprouting thousands of records. ...
Cream, Ginger Baker: The Ginger Baker Challenge
Interview by Richard Gehr, Spin, January 1986
WHAT THE HELL is drummer dinger Baker doing in New York? Hanging out with the Celluloid Records central committee, of course, and laying down tracks for ...
Interview by Gene Santoro, Guitar Player, February 1986
"IF THERE'S anything worth writing about me, it's that I'm a guy like most of the people who read Guitar Player," insists G.E. Smith. "I'm ...
Roy Buchanan on turning down the Stones and being flattered by Beck
Interview by Steve Newton, The Georgia Straight, 7 February 1986
NOT MANY guitarists can say they were invited to join the Rolling Stones. Not many can say they turned the offer down either. But Roy ...
Chic, Led Zeppelin, The Power Station: Tony Thompson: It Ain't The Meat, It's The Emotion
Interview by J.D. Considine, Musician, March 1986
The Power, the Glory, and the Groove: Our Man from Chic Hits Hard and Hits Big, from Zep to Power Station to Madonna ...
Level 42: This Man's Hands Are Worth £1,000,000
Interview by William Shaw, Smash Hits, 23 April 1986
WHY? Because Mark King of Level 42 is widely reckoned to be the best bass guitar player ever. He plays so fast that his thumbs ...
The Cars, Elliott Easton: Elliot Easton's Guitar Trick Bag
Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar World, May 1986
The left-handed wonder is much more than just a member of the Cars. He's a magician, a wizard, a merlin of the fretboard. ...
Eric Johnson: The Warm Tone of a Texas Twister
Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar World, May 1986
The soft-spoken guitar genius has waited a long time to spring his music on us. We present a play-by-play of his layered approach to axe ...
Level 42: Mark King's Level 42 Goes Back To Bass-ics
Interview by Rob Tannenbaum, Musician, June 1986
The Birth, Growth and Simplification of Britain's Best Funk Band ...
Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, The Yardbirds: Jimmy Page: Of Yardbirds And The Shapes of Things to Come
Interview by Gene Santoro, Guitar World, July 1986
For a short time in the late sixties, Page and Beck were in one of the most happening bands to ever come out of England. Some say ...
Interview by Gene Santoro, DownBeat, August 1986
LATELY A lot of folks have been going back to school again studying the roots of the music they're making so they can grow their ...
The Cars, Elliott Easton: Elliot Easton, Closet Traditionalist
Interview by J.D. Considine, Musician, September 1986
THE CARS' GUITAR SPARKPLUG ON BEING APPROPRIATE ...
John Abercrombie: The Unguitarist: John Abercrombie
Interview by Fred Goodman, Musician, September 1986
IN SEARCH OF A BROADER PALETTE, A JAZZMAN TURNS TO SYNTHESIS ...
Interview by John Hutchinson, Musician, September 1986
"I DON'T REALLY see myself as a guitar player," says U2's Edge. "I'm more of a songwriter or composer. In looking for a new way ...
Allen Toussaint, Professor Longhair: New Orleans Pianos: Talking Fingers
Film/DVD/TV Review by Don Snowden, The Boston Phoenix, 16 September 1986
You don't have to be addicted to New Orleans piano style to savor the rich portrait of Stevenson Palfi's Piano Players Rarely Ever Play Together ...
ZZ Top: Billy Gibbons: Sittin' On Top Of The World
Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar World, November 1986
"B.G. HERE," drawled the voice on the phone. Billy Gibbons was calling from Arizona where he was en route to Los Angeles for the filming ...
Interview by Gene Santoro, Guitar World, November 1986
LARRY CARLTON could sit on his laurels, coasting on his rep from countless albums and sessions. But he keeps pushing himself — and his guitar — to higher spaces. ...
Interview by Gene Santoro, DownBeat, December 1986
IN THE decade since he first burst into the big-time music world, guitarist Adrian Belew has persistently challenged and reshaped the boundaries of his instrument. ...
Interview by Steven Rosen, Musician, January 1987
"THE GUITAR is a very difficult instrument to get a great sound on. There's no doubt about it — it takes a lot of years." ...
Zakir Hussain: Thunder On The Mountain
Profile and Interview by Ken Hunt, Folk Roots, February 1987
ZAKIR HUSSAIN is a musician who straddles the East-West divide. Like his father, Ustad Alla Rakha Khan, his instrument is the tabla and like his ...
Walter/Wendy Carlos: Wendy Carlos Invents New Sounds
Interview by Dave DiMartino, Billboard, 21 February 1987
Material Is Digitally Generated ...
Adrian Belew: Belew's Menagerie
Interview by Gene Santoro, Guitar World, March 1987
Inside the fertile mind of ADRIAN BELEW, master of sound mixology. ...
Procol Harum, Robin Trower: Robin Trower: Keeper Of The Dream
Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar World, April 1987
The one-time Procol pace-setter has seen musical trends come and go, but he's back to playing among us because he has a vision of the ...
Marcus Miller, Miles Davis: Marcus Miller: Bass For All Seasons
Interview by Gene Santoro, Guitar World, June 1987
What is it about MARCUS MILLER'S eternal thump that makes him Miles' choice bottom and the Bee Gees' top choice? ...
Miles Davis, Marcus Miller, David Sanborn: Marcus Miller: Bass for All Seasons
Interview by Gene Santoro, Guitar World, June 1987
What is it about MARCUS MILLER'S eternal thump that makes him Miles' choice bottom and the Bee Gees' top choice? ...
Coil: The Darker Side Of Sampling
Interview by Mark Dery, Keyboard, July 1987
LONG BEFORE the verb was coined, Coil keyboardist Peter Christopherson started sampling. ...
Interview by Deborah Frost, Guitar World, July 1987
LIKE LOU Reed, Bob Dylan and John Lennon, to whom he has been compared, Robyn Hitchcock's lyrics are so brilliant they tend to obscure everything ...
Dean Parks: Session Aces: Dean Parks
Profile and Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar World, July 1987
DEAN PARKS is the veteran of this wild bunch, having been a staple in the studios for 15 years. But like every other member of ...
The Cure's Lol Tolhurst: A Dose Of Keyboard Fever
Interview by Mark Dery, Keyboard, August 1987
EVER SINCE schoolmates Robert Smith, Laurence "Lol" Tolhurst, and Michael Dempsey formed Easy Cure in 1976 – the name was eventually shortened to the Cure ...
Bruce Springsteen, Clarence Clemons: The E Street Man: Clarence Clemons
Interview by Deborah Frost, Elle, August 1987
CLARENCE DEMONS is so big it's hard to imagine him standing in anyone's shadow. ...
Overview by John Morthland, High Fidelity, August 1987
The rehabilitation of the accordion: American pop's got a squeeze-box. ...
Peter Gabriel, Random Hold, David Rhodes: David Rhodes: Atmospheric Guitar for Peter Gabriel
Profile and Interview by Mark Dery, Guitar Player, September 1987
DURING HIS RECENT So Tour, poker-faced Peter Gabriel offered fans a glimpse of his slapstick side. During 'Big Time', while Gabriel brayed in mock-macho tones ...
Report by Simon Frith, Jon Savage, The Observer, 18 October 1987
SIMON FRITH and JON SAVAGE on more copyright complexities ...
Albert Collins Puts The Blues On The Map
Interview by Gene Santoro, Guitar World, November 1987
THE MASTER of the Telecaster. The Ice Man. The Houston Twister. The Razor Blade. Those are just a sampling of the titles that have hung ...
Carlos Alomar, David Bowie: Carlos Alomar
Interview by Gene Santoro, DownBeat, November 1987
WE'RE SITTING in Bogie's, a neighborhood bar in Chelsea not far from Carlos Alomar's loft. The bartender is putting together a Long Island iced tea ...
Living Colour: Blindfold Test: Vernon Reid
Interview by Gene Santoro, DownBeat, December 1987
VERNON REID first hit the scene in Ronald Shannon Jackson's swaggering harmolodic adventure, the Decoding Society, where his role rapidly expanded as he evolved different ...
Joe Satriani:Wailin' With The Alien
Interview by Gene Santoro, Guitar World, December 1987
JOE SATRIANI is the eternal student of guitar. That's why he's such a great teacher ...
Richard Lloyd: The 6 String Alchemy of Richard Lloyd
Interview by Mark Dery, Guitar Player, January 1988
RICHARD LLOYD would like to wring his guitar's neck. And he tries, throttling it bluefaced on the Television records Marquee Moon and Adventure, and damned ...
Eugene Chadbourne: The Lovably Low-Tech Eugene Chadbourne
Interview by Mark Dery, Guitar Player, February 1988
"There's no type of music I don't like; it's important to be able to make fun of all types." ...
Django Reinhardt: Djangologie/USA Vols. 1-7 (DRG/Swing Records)
Review by Gene Santoro, Spin, April 1988
GYPSY GUITARIST Django Reinhardt offers an early modern (read post-phonograph) example of how pop music travels from its native habitat, is heard through alienated ears, ...
Dennis Chambers, The Police, Bruce Springsteen, Tony Williams: How To Think Like A Drummer
Interview by J.D. Considine, Musician, June 1988
Becoming a Drumhead in 6 Easy Lessons ...
Gail Ann Dorsey: Bimbo Backlash — Gail Force
Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Face, July 1988
THE REIGN of the bimbo over the British charts has been a long one. There's absolutely nothing wrong with pretty faces fronting other people's songs ...
Interview by Mark Dery, Rock's Backpages audio, 20 July 1988
Cohen talks about his latest album I’m Your Man: who it’s for, and who Cohen is now, using pop idioms, drum machines etc.; being described as depressing by non-fans; his relationship with his live audience; the dangers or otherwise of crossing over commercially; the writers he grew up with in Montreal, and his first group the Buckskin Boys; his pleasure at the emergence of punk, feeling he’s a fellow outsider; his guitar playing, how he strings it and tunes it; his folk roots and how his sound evolved, and his adoption of cheap synthesisers; the importance of lyrics to the listener, and the difference between lyrics and poetry.
File format: mp3; file size: 37.1mb, interview length: 38' 40" sound quality: ***
Depeche Mode's Synthetic Survival
Interview by Ted Drozdowski, Musician, October 1988
You can't stop the beating of a human heart ...
David Lindley: The Weird World Of David Lindley
Interview by Michael Azerrad, Rolling Stone, 6 October 1988
DAVID LINDLEY has found the oud of his dreams in a guitar store on Manhattan's Forty-eighth Street. "This is a beauty," he says, admiring the ...
The Memphis Horns: All The Way From Memphis
Interview by Robert Gordon, Music & Sound Output, December 1988
The Memphis Horns Celebrate 25 Years ...
Comment by Metal Mike Saunders, Revolution, 1989
AFTER 20 YEARS, it's just occurred to me: This rock 'n' roll stuff has lots of guitars. I call up Chuck Eddy and he says, ...
Interview by Ted Drozdowski, Musician, February 1989
A Plectral Purist Answers the Dumb Questions ...
Jeff Healey Band: Jeff Healey: Have Guitar, Will Sit
Interview by Ted Drozdowski, Musician, March 1989
JEFF HEALEY is the most unorthodox guitarist since Stanley Jordan. He plays seated, most of the time, with his guitar flat on his lap. As ...
Joe Satriani, Mick Jagger: The Devil And Joe Satriani
Interview by Ted Drozdowski, Musician, April 1989
A Guitar Hero Strikes a Different Kind of Bargain ...
Tony Williams: Jazz Drummer Tony Williams: A Lifetime of Risky Riffs
Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 17 August 1989
"Every time I go on stage to I play, I'm risking," declared jazz drummer/bandleader Tony Williams. "That's part of my job and part of my ...
Leo Kottke: Of Ice Fields, Breath Mints & Corn Flakes: Leo Kottke
Interview by Bruce Pollock, Guitar, October 1989
TRYING TO COME up with enticing copy about Leo Kottke, is a little like writing an ad for Kellogg's Corn Flakes. There's something about ...
Joe Satriani: Still Flyin', Still Dreamin'
Interview by Steffan Chirazi, Kerrang!, 25 November 1989
When he was just a little-biddy boy, ace widdlist JOE SATRIANI used to have weird dreams, dreams where he was flying around in "this blue colour" which ...
Jeff Beck, Stevie Ray Vaughan: Jeff Beck & Stevie Ray Vaughan: Guitar Slingers Shoot It Out
Report and Interview by Ted Drozdowski, Rolling Stone, 30 November 1989
Jeff Beck and Stevie Ray Vaughan go head-to-head on U.S. tour ...
Richard Thompson Rings Some Changes
Interview by Mark Rowland, Musician, January 1990
The acoustic eclectic appreciates purists, but wouldn't want to be one ...
Steve Vai, Whitesnake: Steve Vai: Vaiing For Attention
Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, 12 January 1990
NO, YOUR eyes aren't deceiving you. Steve Vai is holding a seven-string guitar, custom-made for him by Ibanez. ...
Rush: Screwing Up Pop — On Purpose
Interview by J.D. Considine, Musician, April 1990
RUSH MAY BE the only band on earth to have made "fear of boredom" a primary musical motivation. Needless to say, they don't put it ...
Yngwie Malmsteen: Enmore Theatre, Sydney
Live Review by Steve Mascord, Kerrang!, 4 August 1990
Techno wizard of Ox ...
Captain Beefheart, Gods and Monsters: Gary Lucas' Gods and Monsters
Profile and Interview by Mark Dery, Guitar Player, September 1990
"THE MUSICAL landscape is completely moribund," says Gary Lucas. "It's one of the worst periods in memory, worse than the mid '70s. My music is ...
Elton John, Eric Clapton: Ray Cooper: Who Are Those Blokes Up There With Ray?
Profile and Interview by Robert Sandall, Q, October 1990
Wherever stellar rockular personages gather together he's there at the back, shiny of pate and blurred of hand. But who is this Bongo Basher By ...
Stevie Ray Vaughan: Lost and Found and Lost Again: Stevie Ray Vaughan 1954-1990
Retrospective by Tony Scherman, Musician, November 1990
"STEVIE WAS on it. Playin' great, kickin' butt," says Robert Cray, and when Double Trouble was done, everybody — the Vaughan brothers, Cray, Buddy Guy ...
James Brown, Funkadelic, Maceo Parker: Maceo, Blow Your Horn!
Interview by Gene Santoro, Pulse!, November 1990
James Brown's saxman of choice, Maceo Parker cuts two solo albums, one jazz, one P-Funk ...
Marc Ribot: Master of the Sideways Guitar
Interview by Ted Drozdowski, Musician, November 1990
The odd man in is proud of his mistakes ...
Carlos Santana: Finding Melody in Rhythm
Interview by Alan di Perna, Musician, December 1990
Quick pick tricks and global licks ...
Loop: The Feedback of the 5,000 Volts
Interview by Cathi Unsworth, Sounds, 8 December 1990
LOOP have long been associated with a wall of sound that is guaranteed to play havoc with the senses. CATHI UNSWORTH learns exactly what it ...
GBH, Haircut 100, Judas Priest, Metallica, Musical Youth: Metallica: Taking the Mick
Interview by Steffan Chirazi, Kerrang!, 22 December 1990
He's very large, he's very hairy, he's got a massive... motorbike — and he's been soundman to some of the greatest acts in Metal. GBH, ...
Butthole Surfers: FU Proof Technology
Interview by Roy Wilkinson, Sounds, 12 January 1991
DEEP IN the heart of Texas, a marriage seemingly made in hell continues to flourish. ...
Talking Heads, Bernie Worrell: Bernie Worrell: Aspects of the Funk
Interview by Alan di Perna, Musician, February 1991
Jamming with keyboardist extraordinaire Bernie Worrell ...
Danny Gatton: Picking Danny Gatton's Brain
Interview by Gene Santoro, Musician, February 1991
Some of the tricks that make the world's greatest unknown guitarist great ...
Ned's Atomic Dustbin: Rummaging In The Bass Bin
Interview by Roy Wilkinson, Sounds, 16 February 1991
In a classic case of jobs for the boys, NED'S ATOMIC DUSTBIN developed their own unorthodox formation. ROY WILKINSON meets their two electric bassists ...
Elvis Costello, Jerry Garcia, Grateful Dead: Jerry Garcia and Elvis Costello: Strange Bedfellows
Interview by Mark Rowland, Musician, March 1991
AS EVERYONE knows, Grateful Dead fans come in all sorts and sizes — including one Elvis Costello. And so, when Musician got the idea of ...
Patrice Rushen: The Lady Plays a Vamp
Interview by Alan di Perna, Musician, March 1991
Keyboard wizard Patrice Rushen unravels jazz improvisation ...
Overview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 8 March 1991
Dim, manic, noisy, and rarely women. But drummers aren't all troll-like, says Adam Sweeting ...
Danny Gatton: Of Cars, Bars and Vintage Guitars
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, DownBeat, April 1991
IMAGINE THAT you're an English roots-rock guitarist — say, Dave Edmunds or Billy Bremner — and you've spent your whole life trying to look and ...
Chic: Back to Bass: Bernard Edwards
Interview by Don Snowden, Bass Player, 29 April 1991
"I THINK 'GOOD TIMES' is the song we're remembered most for," said Bernard Edwards of the reunited Chic. "We were a commercial band and a ...
James Brown, Bootsy Collins, Funkadelic: Bootsy Collins Effects the Funk
Interview by Gene Santoro, Musician, May 1991
Scouting bass hyperspace, speaking without words ...
Guitar Designer Leo Fender Dies
Obituary by uncredited writer, Rolling Stone, 16 May 1991
CLARENCE LEO Fender, the inventor whose solid-body electric guitars changed the course of music history, died on March 21st in Fullerton, California. The eighty-two-year-old Fender ...
Interview by Alan di Perna, Musician, July 1991
Keyboard giant tells how it all started and how it all works ...
Profile and Interview by Steven P. Wheeler, Music Connection, August 1991
PROBABLY THE most underrated and yet most talented musicians are those who carry with them the less-than-heralded title of "session player." While some transformed themselves ...
Danny Gatton: The Fastest Guitar in the East
Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 11 August 1991
The fastest guitar in the East. Or the West, or the South — or anywhere on the planet, really. A lot of people think Danny ...
Elvis Costello, Phil Spector: Larry Knechtel Emerges
Interview by Alan di Perna, Musician, September 1991
On Phil Spector, waltzing with Elvis Costello and "arm playing" ...
Interview by Mark Dery, Rock's Backpages audio, Winter 1991
The great guitarist and inventor talks about the basis of his style; the making of 'How High The Moon'; co-inventing The Chipmunks; his influence on other musicians; the development of sound-on-sound and multitrack recording, and pays a heartfelt tribute to Mary Ford.
File format: mp3; file size: 51.4mb, interview length: 51' 06" sound quality: ***
Earl Palmer the Rhythm Bomber, the Funk Machine from New Orleans
Retrospective and Interview by Tony Scherman, Musician, January 1992
From Bessie Smith to Elvis Costello, the Amazing Life and Perfect Time of a Great Rock 'n' Roll Pioneer ...
Interview by Cliff Jones, Melody Maker, 1 February 1992
When Teenage Fanclub step into the studio, the rules are simple: use old guitars, old amps and old recording equipment "to make a record we ...
Charlie Rich: Building Better Bridges: Charlie Rich in jazz country
Interview by Alan di Perna, Musician, May 1992
"NOW YOU play the bridge for me." ...
Interview by Tony Scherman, Musician, May 1992
The bedroom secrets of a drummer's hands ...
Glenn Phillips' Voices In The Night
Profile and Interview by Mark Dery, Guitar Player, May 1992
THE POET CHARLES Bukowski believes that greatness is born of ordinary madness. Glenn Phillips would probably agree. In the liner notes for Echoes (1975-1985), a ...
Interview by J.D. Considine, Musician, June 1992
VISITING REHEARSALS FOR A STADIUM TOUR ...
Lindsey Buckingham: The Speed of Sound
Interview by Alan di Perna, Musician, August 1992
Lindsey Buckingham gets tight with tone ...
Jerry Donahue: Taking Tele 'Round The Bend
Interview by Alan di Perna, Musician, September 1992
THE BRASS NUTS OF A COUNTRY FIREBALL ...
Interview by Tony Scherman, Rock's Backpages audio, 1993
Between demonstrations of drum techniques and expositions on the philosophy of drumming, Cobham talks about his African and Caribbean roots; his Panamanian family background, and their move to New York City; starting out drumming and listening to big band jazz; his education in drum & bugle corps, and marching bands in Queens; his education at the High School of Music & Art in New York, and joining the military and his time at the Naval School of Music.
File format: mp3; file size: 100.5mb, total interview length: 1h 44' 42" sound quality: ***
R.E.M., Neil Young: The Men on the Harvest Moon: Young-Buck!
Interview by Mark Rowland, Musician, April 1993
OUTSIDE THE sky was dark and the rain was falling hard. But the pre-concert scene congealing toward the rear of Universal Studios stage 12 was ...
Interview by David Sinclair, Rolling Stone, 1 April 1993
WHEN THE English rock stars of the 1960s eventually wearied of life on the road and in the metropolis, the ones who still had any ...
fIREHOSE, Mike Watt: Mike Watt's Violent Extremes
Interview by Alan di Perna, Musician, June 1993
Free your bass and your mind will follow ...
Richie Havens (1993) [transcript]
Transcript of audio interview by Paul Zollo, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 4 June 1993
This is a transcript of Paul's audio interview with Richie. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...
Charles & Eddie, En Vogue: Harmony Singing: You Have A Lovely Singing Voice
Report and Interview by Lloyd Bradley, Q, July 1993
Three years ago it had all but disappeared beneath the deluge of hard rap and technological beats. Now, from the choreographed trouser arousal of En ...
Fishbone: Five-string Freestyle: Fishbone's Norwood Fisher
Interview by Alan di Perna, Musician, September 1993
AS A KID in the '70s, John Norwood Fisher listened intently to Funkadelic's Billy Bass and Aston "Family Man" Barrett from Bob Marley's band. Rather ...
Profile and Interview by John Morthland, L.A. Weekly, 16 September 1993
But Junior Brown can make a guit-steel sing ...
The Faces, Ian McLagan: Ian McLagan: Face the Face
Interview by Alan di Perna, Musician, October 1993
On the finer points of three-chord karate ...
Marcus Miller, David Sanborn, Luther Vandross: Marcus Miller: Back to the Future
Interview by Jeff Lorez, Blues & Soul, 12 October 1993
CATCHING UP with Marcus Miller is no easy task. Forget about trying his home in New Jersey because he's hardly ever there. Chances are you'll ...
Alvin Lee, Blodwyn Pig, Robin Trower: Is There Life After Rock Guitar Godhead?
Overview by Roy Trakin, Musician, 1994
ALVIN LEE HAD reached the pinnacle of rock guitardom. Of course, by the time Woodstock was over, his "I'm Going Home... by helicopter" histrionics would ...
James Booker: The Unsung Piano Genius with Star-spangled False Teeth
Profile by Ben Thompson, MOJO, January 1994
"IF ALL AMERICAN PIANO PLAYERS LINED UP IN A ROW, each knowing the others abilities and talents, all would take a step back to recognise ...
Kristin Hersh: Lipstick, Powder and Saint
Interview by Elaine Cusack, Guitar, January 1994
"Oh I look just like a sad old hooker!" wails Kristin Hersh as a false eyelash falls from her heavily made-up face and just misses ...
Interview by Tom Doyle, Melody Maker, 5 February 1994
Producers Paul Kolderie and Sean Slade have made a career out off getting excellent guitar sounds to tape, lending their skills to the likes of ...
Paco de Lucia's Flamenco Odyssey: Expression, Serenity & Feeling
Interview by Hank Bordowitz, Guitar Player, April 1994
"PACO DE LUCIA, in opinion, is the greatest flamenco player alive," says John McLaughlin of his friend. "Working with him really was a great experience." ...
Guns N' Roses, Slash: Slash: Trigger with Attitude
Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar, February 1995
After a whole year of well-publicised feuds with Axl Rose, Guns N' Roses' Slash has now cut loose to record his own album with a ...
Live Review by John Swenson, Rolling Stone, 23 February 1995
A THREE-DAY tribute to the ultimateguitarist's guitarist figured to be a fret-heavy hurricane of hot licks, but Danny Gatton brought down a monsoon of flying ...
Suede: Introducing the band techs
Interview by Tom Doyle, Melody Maker, 4 March 1995
Behind every guitar hero, there's a guitar tech sorting out his inputs from his outputs. TOM DOYLE meets the men who help put Suede on ...
Review by Geoffrey Himes, The Washington Post, 25 June 1995
IT'S EASY to understand why so many jazz and pop musicians have gravitated toward the buzzing, grinding and squealing of guitar distortion, even if those ...
Interview by Steven Rosen, Total Guitar, August 1995
AT 38, EDWARD Van Halen is a changed man. He's cut his locks, cut out the sauce (and other less legal intoxicants) and after ...
Overview by Mark Sinker, The Wire, September 1995
The story of the first electronic instruments is as twisted and circuitous as their primitive, labyrinthine wiring. Mark Sinker goes in search of these often ...
Freddie Hubbard: When Your Chops Are Shot
Interview by Fred Shuster, DownBeat, October 1995
TRUMPET GREAT Freddie Hubbard greets a visitor to his cozy split-level Hollywood Hills home with a friendly handshake that belies the worry in his eyes. ...
Lothar and the Hand People: Return Of The Weird: Lothar and the Hand People
Report and Interview by Steven R Rosen, Denver Post, 29 October 1995
"YOU THINK THERE'LL be enough interest in this that I'll be able to make a fortune giving theremin lessons?" ...
Helmet: Head Case: Helmet's Page Hamilton
Report and Interview by Mike Mettler, Guitar, March 1996
HELMET'S PAGE HAMILTON has impeccable credentials. He holds a master's degree in jazz performance from Manhattan School of Music, and he has been part of ...
Paul Westerberg's 1962 Gibson Melody Maker
Interview by Alan Paul, Guitar World, June 1996
PAUL WESTERBERG may be known for his bittersweet lyrics and forlorn melodies, but his sentimentality certainly doesn't extend to his guitars. ...
James Sallis: The Guitar In Jazz – An Anthology
Book Review by Tom Graves, The Washington Post, 23 June 1996
WHY IS IT that jazz, one of the most exciting and explosive forms of music, has been the subject of some of the lamest, most ...
Fleetwood Mac, Peter Green: "I'm Peter Green"
Interview by Cliff Jones, MOJO, September 1996
OUTSIDE IT'S RAINING, THE KIND OF slick, greasy rain you only get in cities. The atmosphere is oppressive. Inside the Brewer's Inn, Wandsworth – a ...
Bo Diddley: Man Among Men, Guitarist Among Guitarists
Interview by Hank Bordowitz, Guitar Player, October 1996
YOU KNOW BO Diddley invented that beat, one of the driving forces of rock and roll. You know he had a bunch of seminal ...
Jason Falkner: Top Cat: Jason Falkner
Profile and Interview by Mike Mettler, Guitar Player, October 1996
JASON FALKNER loves "B" guitars and oddball gear. A tasteful, pop-savvy craftsman in the tradition of George Harrison, Andy Partridge, Neil Finn and Jon Brion, ...
Peter Green: Things are rosier for Peter Green, but does he still have the blues?
Report and Interview by Colin Harper, The Scotsman, 5 May 1997
"I JUST took too many LSD trips," says Peter Green. "I couldn't get back from it – I didn't want to get back ... I ...
Interview by Colin Harper, The Guitar, November 1997
ALL OVER the world there are individuals trading copies of grainy videos from European television, cassettes of horrendously obscure old records by people with unpronounceable ...
Coldcut, Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five: You Spin Me Round
Overview by Martin Aston, Q, November 1997
"Two turntables and a microphone," are, says Beck, "where it's at." For more than a decade Technics 1200 record decks have provided the backbone of ...
fIREHOSE, The Minutemen, Mike Watt: Sideman: Mike Watt
Interview by Mark Rowland, Musician, December 1997
ALTHOUGH YOU'VE really been the leader on most of your band projects since the Minutemen, playing bass almost connotes the term "sideman." ...
Pat Metheny Keeps the Story Going
Interview by Mac Randall, Musician, February 1998
A Master of Improv Stresses the Importance of Narrative ...
Van Halen: Steady Eddie Van Halen
Profile and Interview by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 7 May 1998
IT'S AFTER 2 A.M. on a Monday morning, Houston time, when Eddie Van Halen calls for a thrice-scheduled interview. But the guitar virtuoso of the ...
Walter/Wendy Carlos: A huge, ever pulsating brain
Retrospective and Interview by Mark Sinker, The Wire, July 1998
Mark Sinker reopens the music vs technology debate with Robert Moog, who invented the portable modular synthesizer to give the world an ever expanding index ...
Harry Partch's Original Invented Instruments: Barbican, London
Live Review by Andy Gill, MOJO, February 1999
IT'S NOT every day – or every decade, come to that – that UK audiences get a chance to witness Harry Partch's bizarre instruments "in ...
Blue Cheer, Randy Holden: Randy Holden
Interview by Richie Unterberger, Perfect Sound Forever, 24 April 1999
RANDY HOLDEN might be the Great Lost Guitar Hero of the 1960's. ...
Backbeat — Earl Palmer's Story By Tony Scherman (Smithsonian Institution; 196 pages; $24.95)
Book Review by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, 25 July 1999
Earl Palmer Laid Down the Rhythm of Rock 'n' Roll ...
Reeves Gabrels: Building …hours
Report and Interview by Mike Mettler, Sound + Vision, 1 December 1999
AVANT-GUITARIST Reeves Gabrels began his ten-year-long collaboration with David Bowie in 1989 with the hard-edged Tin Machine project. He has since garnered a reputation as ...
Obituary by Andria Lisle, Living Blues, March 2000
FOLLOWING A STRUGGLE with cancer, legendary saxophonist Fred Ford died on November 26, 1999. He was 69. Ford, a pillar of the Memphis music community, ...
Elvis Presley: Scotty Moore's Classic Axe Goes Under The Hammer
Report by Mark Pringle, Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages, April 2000
Former Elvis Presley producer weeps after auctioning off "the most important guitar in rock and roll history" ...
Profile and Interview by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 9 July 2000
Charlie Watts has always marched to a different drum than the rest of the Rolling Stones. He has been happily married for 36 years, he ...
Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble: SRV
Review by J.D. Considine, Revolver, Winter 2000
CARLOS SANTANA was on British TV the other night, talking about those wondrous moments in a musician's life when conscious control dissolves and something just ...
Bill Frisell: Let your fingers do the talking
Interview by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 2001
Jazz guitarist Bill Frisell has worked with everyone from Chet Baker to Marianne Faithful. So why start taking lessons now? Richard Williams met him ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001
b. Jean Baptiste Reinhardt, 23 January 1910, Liverchies, Belgium, d. 16 May 1953, Samois, France ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
b. Lester Polfuss, 9 June 1915, Waukesha, Wisconsin, USA ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, 'Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music', 2001
b. 8 October 1932, Augusta, Georgia, USA, d. 29 July 1988, Nashville, Tennessee ...
Review by Gene Santoro, Chamber Music, April 2001
THE GUITAR is arguably the most eclectic and democratic of instruments. Some form of it appears in nearly every society. Anyone can learn to play ...
Bill Frisell: Blues Dream (Nonesuch)
Review by Gene Santoro, Chamber Music, June 2001
WITH BLUES DREAM (Nonesuch), an album that interprets the blues as the foundation for jazz, bluegrass, Thelonious Monk, soul, Western Swing, heavy metal, and other ...
Dave Holland: Bass Is the Place: Dave Holland and the Jazz Bass
Retrospective by Gene Santoro, Chamber Music, December 2001
NOT FOR NOTHIN' (ECM) is bassist Dave Holland's latest CD, and the laconic title could sum up the man himself, his instrument's history, and the ...
Ian Dury, Chaz Jankel: Chaz Jankel
Interview by Bill Brewster, Faith, 2002
CHAZ JANKEL made his name as Ian Dury's collaborator and founder member of backing band, the Blockheads. As a solo artist, he's most well known ...
Roy Haynes: Birds of a Feather (Disques Dreyfus)
Review by Gene Santoro, Chamber Music, 2002
WITH BIRDS OF A FEATHER (Disques Dreyfus), 75-year-old drummer Roy Haynes has forged a scintillating tribute album to bebop icon Charlie "Bird" Parker. His quintet ...
Jim Keltner: His Time Is Tight: Jim Keltner
Profile by Tim Riley, publicbroadcasting.net, January 2002
Jim Keltner has drummed for everybody from Bob Dylan to Steely Dan to Ry Cooder; he drives a lot of the better rock albums you ...
Guide by Pat Blashill, Wired, 5 January 2002
EVER SINCE Sam Phillips stuffed some wads of paper into an amplifier, inadvertently creating the fuzzed-up, overdriven electric guitar sound on Ike Turner's 1951 rave-up ...
John Entwistle, The Who: John Entwistle, 1944-2002
Obituary by Chris Charlesworth, Bass Guitar, July 2002
IT IS A CLICHÉ THAT CELEBRITIES tend to be shorter in real life than they appear on stage. John Entwistle, who often wore brightly-coloured Cuban-heeled ...
Tony Allen: Invisible Jukebox: Tony Allen
Interview by Mike Barnes, The Wire, October 2002
Every month we play a musician a series of records which they're asked to identify and comment on — with no prior knowledge of what ...
Review by Gene Santoro, Chamber Music, December 2002
HERE AT THE beginnings of the 21st century, jazz faces several dilemmas, some creative, some commercial. After an often vitriolic and demoralizing period of consolidation ...
Daniel Lanois' shining pedal steel sound
Interview by Nicholas Jennings, Inside Entertainment, 2003
"I HAVE WANDERED far and wide," Daniel Lanois sings on the title track to his latest album, "all the way from Paris to Mexico". ...
Primal Scream: An Interview with Andrew Innes
Interview by Joe Matera, Total Guitar, 2003
JM: Over the years Primal Scream have continued to re-invent themselves musically with each subsequent release. In it's early incarnation it was a jangly Byrds ...
Johnny Marr: The Johnny Marr Interview
Interview by Joe Matera, Total Guitar, 2003
Joe Matera: Boomslang showcases a new sound for you that seems to be the culmination of all the different musical influences you've been exposed to ...
Retrospective and Interview by Bill Bentley, Austin Chronicle, 23 May 2003
DESIGNATED DRUMMER. IF YOU'RE GOING to hang a tag on the able shoulders of Ernesto "Ernie" Durawa, that would be the one. For almost 50 ...
Interview by Ted Drozdowski, Guitar World Acoustic, June 2003
BEN HARPER'S NEW Diamonds on the Inside (Virgin) is a fireworks display of guitar. Colorful melodies played on an array of acoustics and electrics burst ...
Davey Graham: Davy Graham: The Guitar Player
Retrospective and Interview by Colin Harper, Record Collector, July 2003
LESS COMMERCIALLY successful than the Fairports, the Carthys and the Watersons of the British folk scene, Davy Graham remains something of a cult figure for ...
Robben Ford At The Newcastle Opera House
Live Review by Craig W. Thomas, unpublished, 21 November 2003
I'M TIRED OF the bullshit. I'm tired of TV advertising in my face. I'm sick of calls trying to sell me health insurance and I'm ...
Comment by Andrew Mueller, The Guardian, 29 November 2003
ACCORDING TO A body of instrument suppliers called the Music Industries Association, in the last 12 months the British people bought no less than 700,000 ...
Ozzy Osbourne, Rainbow, Widowmaker (UK): Bass Instincts: The Bob Daisley Interview
Interview by Joe Matera, Total Bass Guitar, 2004
FOR MORE THAN 30 years now, Australian born-bassist Bob Daisley has been laying down the foundation of which some of the greatest rock and roll ...
A Fender Custom Shop Master Built Experience
Special Feature by Tom Watson, Strat Collector, 10 January 2004
EVERYONE WHO grew up with "rock 'n' roll" during the 50s and 60s in the United States understood its message. Rebellion. The music served as ...
State of the Vintage Strat 2004: Four U.S. Experts Share Their Opinions
Overview by Tom Watson, Strat Collector, 14 February 2004
WHILE AUTOMOBILES were designed to be driven, coins designed to be spent, and stamps designed for licking, such items have come to be valued and ...
How to Buy a Fender Stratocaster, Part One
Guide by Tom Watson, Strat Collector, 23 February 2004
THE ARTICLE BELOW is not about collectible Stratocasters, vintage or otherwise. The information is provided in response to a frequently asked question: How in the ...
Obituary by Ken Hunt, The Guardian, 25 March 2004
One of the greatest sitar players of his age ...
How to Buy a Fender Stratocaster Part Two: New Instruments
Guide by Tom Watson, Strat Collector, 20 April 2004
THE THRESHOLD questions considered in Part One of How to Buy a Fender Stratocaster were: What is your budget? and What purpose will the instrument ...
Eric Clapton Stratocaster "Blackie" Becomes Most Expensive Guitar Sold at Auction
Report by Tom Watson, Strat Collector, 25 June 2004
ERIC CLAPTON'S prized Stratocaster "Blackie", brought $959,500 in the Christie's Eric Clapton Crossroads Guitar Auction, becoming the most expensive guitar ever to have been sold ...
Craig Armstrong: Why I turned Tom Cruise down
Profile and Interview by Robert Sandall, Daily Telegraph, 29 July 2004
He's worked with Madonna, U2 and Massive Attack, as well as scoring the blockbuster movies Moulin Rouge and Love Actually. Craig Armstrong, the hardest-working man ...
Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page: Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page: The Guv'nors
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, August 2004
"Big loud chords, fuck-off guitar sound — we started it all. GOOD MORNING!" chimes Jeff Beck. "Now it's time to do something new and unexpected!" ...
The Rolling Stones: Rolling Stones: Howzat!
Retrospective and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, October 2004
Out the same month as the rock and roll circus was filmed, Beggars Banquet was the Stones' first classic album. Charles Shaar Murray revisits their ...
Tower of Power's Emilio Castillo: An Interview
Interview by Carl Wiser, Songfacts, 11 October 2004
The Tower Of Power horn section is one of the best in the business. The group not only performs as a solo act, but is ...
Jimi Hendrix: Seven Fender Stratocaster Models That Pay Tribute to Jimi Hendrix
Special Feature by Tom Watson, Modern Guitars, 13 November 2004
OVER THE 34 years since his untimely death in 1970 at the age of 27, the music of Jimi Hendrix has inspired legions of budding ...
Report and Interview by Chris Campion, Daily Telegraph, 11 December 2004
What happens when veteran soul drummers and top hip-hop DJs improvise together? Chris Campion reports. ...
Film/DVD/TV Review by Charles Shaar Murray, Observer Music Monthly, 23 January 2005
THE NAME ACTUALLY rhymes with 'vogue,' but the incorrect phonetic pronunciation somehow seems more appropriate to the noises made by the eponymous instrument created in ...
The Stratocaster Chronicles by Tom Wheeler
Book Review by Tom Watson, Strat Collector, 11 February 2005
Apart from the weight of its own history, the Strat abides.– Tom Wheeler, The Stratocaster Chronicles ...
Freebass: Big Bottoms: Freebass
Report and Interview by Jenny Valentish, Inpress, January 2006
One harebrained scheme, two dozen pints, three legendary Mancunian bassists and a love of Spinal Tap = one very drunk bass supergroup. Jenny Valentish gets ...
Interview by Greg Phillips, Australian Musician, June 2006
More than forty years on, the Rolling Stones still pack a mighty mean punch on stage. Sure, nostalgia accounts for much of the electricity they ...
Flaming Lips: Steven Drozd of The Flaming Lips
Interview by Steven Rosen, ultimate-guitar.com, 14 June 2006
STEVEN DROZD, guitarist for The Flaming Lips, plays guitar, keyboards, drums, sings, writes, entertains and philosophizes. He does a lot of different things. And that's ...
Bert Jansch: Invisible Jukebox
Interview by Mike Barnes, The Wire, February 2007
Complete draft of the feature originally published in The Wire 276, Feb 2007 ...
The Rolling Stones: First Effects: Caught by the Fuzz
Retrospective by Matthew Frost, Guitar Buyer, April 2007
In the first part of our new series, Matt Frost takes a trip back to 1965. It's the 27th of May and the Rolling Stones ...
Interview by Joe Matera, ultimate-guitar.com, 30 June 2007
ERA VULGARIS — which is Latin for Common Era —is the new studio outing for stoner-rock stalwarts Queens Of The Stone Age. ...
Peter Green: Sleep Easy Jeff Beck
Essay by Tom Graves, Rock's Backpages, September 2007
ON TOP OF the indignity of coping with a severed digit (which is coming along quite nicely, thank you very much) I learned last week ...
Eric Clapton: The Autobiography (Century)
Book Review by Robert Sandall, The Sunday Times, 14 October 2007
IT IS HARD to believe that the first book to spill the beans on Eric Clapton should arrive more than 40 years after the graffitied ...
Twiddle Twaddle: The Guitarists Who Do Too Much
Column by Jon Stewart, Guitarist, November 2007
THIS MONTH'S column is inspired by Pete from Weston-Super-Mare and his controversial contribution to the letters page in last month's Guitarist: "Fret w*nkers - it's ...
John Fogerty: The Guitars of John Fogerty: How Creedence pioneer learned to love the Les Paul
Report and Interview by Fred Shuster, Los Angeles, 21 November 2007
AT A TIME when most American rhythm guitar players were using utilitarian Fender Telecasters or Stratocasters, John Fogerty chose a black Gibson Les Paul, pictured ...
Obituary by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 29 February 2008
Rock drummer who graced the stage with Hendrix in his heyday ...
Eric Clapton, Todd Rundgren: Legendary Guitar: The Saga of Eric Clapton's Famous Fool SG
Report and Interview by Steven Rosen, Gibson.com, 16 April 2008
THE STORAGE CLOSET in Todd Rundgren's Mink Hollow Road studio was closed. But it wasn't locked. Big difference. If there were anything of value in ...
Super Smashing Lovely: Jon Stewart Laments The Lost Art Of Stagecraft
Column by Jon Stewart, Guitarist, May 2008
FOR MOST people at a gig (the normal people, the ones who aren't other guitarists) it's not what you're playing that counts - it's what ...
Steve Beresford, David Gray, Guillemots, Courtney Pine: London's musical instrument shops
Guide by John Lewis, Time Out, June 2008
J Reid & Sons "WE DON'T GET many high-class customers up here in the badlands," laughs proprietor John Gregory. It's probably because they wouldn't expect to ...
Profile by Jon Stewart, Guitarist, June 2008
SISTER ROSETTA Tharpe was born in a Mississippi delta cotton farm in 1915. ...
Hank Williams: Don Helms, 1927-2008
Obituary by Alan Clayson, The Guardian, 26 August 2008
Steel guitarist who backed Hank Williams ...
Profile and Interview by Bud Scoppa, Uncut, September 2008
To the faithful, Eric Clapton's guitar playing has always been sacred. But in 2008, from a Blind Faith reunion to a host of blazing session ...
Mötley Crüe's Mick Mars: "I’ve Always Been About Melody And Tone"
Interview by Steven Rosen, ultimate-guitar.com, 6 September 2008
MICK MARS CAME into this world as Robert Alan Deal. He was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, on May 4, 1951. His family relocated to ...
Rick Wright: Shine On, Rick Wright
Obituary by Steven Ward, Blurt, 18 September 2008
FOUNDING PINK FLOYD keyboardist Rick Wright is playing the great gig in the sky right now. Maybe Syd Barrett is watching from the wings of ...
A Half-Century of McCabe's Guitar Shop
Report by Michael Simmons, L.A. Weekly, 25 September 2008
Little shop of adorers ...
Interview by Steven Rosen, Rock's Backpages audio, 20 October 2008
The Paganini of Poodle talks about guitars, recording methods, his reputation etc... but mostly about himself.
File format: mp3; file size: 44.4mb, interview length: 48' 31" sound quality: * (phoner)
The Faces: The Guitar Face Phenomenon
Column by Jon Stewart, Guitarist, November 2008
GUITAR FACE is a common complaint that can strike any of us at any time. It is an unconscious condition over which we have little ...
Comment by Jude Rogers, New Statesman, 13 November 2008
Radio 2, beset by scandal, is still the home of gloriously odd programming ...
Retrospective by Jon Stewart, Guitarist, April 2009
Jon Stewart celebrates the magic of Motown’s multiple guitarists ...
Neil Young: Forever Young: Rick Rosas
Interview by Greg Phillips, Guitar & Bass, September 2009
Few are those musicians who bend enough to keep pace with Neil Youngs ever-changing whims. Rick The Bass Player Rosas has done just that for ...
Interview by Greg Phillips, Australian Musician, September 2009
Greg Phillips speaks with the Pink band ...
Beyoncé: Bibi McGill: Beyoncé's Guitarist/Musical Director
Profile and Interview by Greg Phillips, The Music Network, October 2009
AMID A STORM of spotlights, smoke and confetti, there she stood ... the unmistakable silhouette of Beyoncé Knowles. ...
Interview by Bill DeMain, MOJO, November 2009
Master musician, recording pioneer, inventor of the solid-body electric guitar, Les Paul changed the face of popular music. Bill DeMain pays tribute to a great ...
Davey Graham: Davy Graham: A Scholar And A Gentleman
Review by Rob Young, Uncut, January 2010
Perfectly tuned survey of the dad of DADGAD's musical wanderings. ...
The Edge, Jimmy Page, Jack White: Davis Guggenheim's It Might Get Loud
Film/DVD/TV Review by Barney Hoskyns, Uncut, February 2010
Riveting doc about the magical powers of the electric guitar, starring Jack White, Jimmy Page and the Edge. ...
Foo Fighters, Taylor Hawkins & the Coattail Riders: Taylor Hawkins (2010)
Interview by Steven Rosen, Rock's Backpages audio, 5 April 2010
The Foo Fighters drummer talks about his solo project, Taylor Hawkins & the Coattail Riders, and their new album Red Light Fever: working with guitarist Gannin Arnold; having members of Queen contribute; the album song-by-song; working with guitarists; his favourite British producers; singing on Slash's album; Chris Chaney's bass playing; using Gretsch drums; the family that is the Foo Fighters, and having his own band.
File format: mp3; file size: 26.1mb, interview length: 27' 12" sound quality: ** (phoner)
Cameron Carpenter: Rhinestone Cowboy
Profile and Interview by Edward Helmore, The Guardian, 20 May 2010
Organist and showbusiness are words rarely put together. But Cameron Carpenter is a man on a mission, and, watch out, he's developing a secret weapon ...
Steve Cropper: Rock Climbing: Steve Cropper
Retrospective by Jon Stewart, Guitarist, June 2010
GUITARIST, A&R MAN, engineer, producer, songwriter, promoter and founder member of Booker T & the MGs, Steve Cropper’s playing defines southern soul music. Cropper listened to ...
ZZ Top: Billy Gibbons: An Interview
Profile and Interview by Pete Makowski, Guitar Aficionado, Fall 2010
"It's not really about fashion; it's only about STYLE. Style lives on and fashion dies." John Varvatos, contemporary menswear fashion designer* ...
Interview by Max Bell, Classic Rock, January 2011
JEFF BECK confirmed to Classic Rock that the two old buddies would renew a partnership that first saw light in the late 1960s when the two rock ...
Bobby Keys: The Bobby Keys Band: Mercy Lounge, Nashville
Live Review by Holly Gleason, No Depression, 3 May 2011
THERE ARE FEW musicians synonymous with an oeuvre or a sound, yet Bobby Keys pretty much defines rock & roll saxophone, especially of the Rolling ...
Obituary by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 23 May 2011
FOR A TIME in the mid-1960s, the band of the great rhythm and blues tenor saxophonist King Curtis contained two guitarists. The first, Jimi Hendrix, ...
Duane Eddy: "All Pilots Are Musicians"
Retrospective and Interview by Rob Hughes, The Word, July 2011
Downhome philosopher, barrier-busting King Of Twang noise-bringer — Duane Eddy strums the semi-acoustic soundbox of sagacity. ...
The Faces, Ian McLagan, The Small Faces: The Mojo Interview: Ian McLagan
Interview by Mark Paytress, MOJO, August 2011
How do you survive "unbelievable" acid trips in the Small Faces, being Don Arden's meal ticket or acting like "drunken bastards" in the Faces? It's ...
Bert Jansch: A Modest Man with an Immodest Talent
Obituary by Pete Paphides, The Guardian, 6 October 2011
"REMEMBER ASKING Bert, 'When you were doing it, did you know that you were like … heavy? Heavier than all those bands that were heavy? ...
Interview by Carl Wiser, Rock's Backpages audio, 12 October 2011
Top L.A. session bass player Kaye talks about her life in the Tinsel Town studios, laying down the low end for the likes of the Beach Boys, Monkees, Sinatra and so many more.
File format: mp3 File size: 16.1mb Interview length: 35' 13"; Sound quality: * (phoner)
Marc Ribot, Tom Waits: Marc Ribot: Swamp Thing
Profile and Interview by James Medd, The Word, November 2011
The genius fog-filled guitarist who pushed Tom Waits' signature sound off the piano stool. ...
Bert Jansch: On The Road So Long
Obituary by Colin Irwin, MOJO, December 2011
A virtuoso guitarist who knew no boundaries and inspired Jimmy Page and Neil Young, Bert Jansch died on October 5. Colin Irwin says farewell ...
Howlin' Wolf, Hubert Sumlin: Hubert Sumlin, 1931-2011
Obituary by Tony Russell, The Guardian, 5 December 2011
Revered blues guitarist who combined musically with Howlin' Wolf "like gasoline and a lit match" ...
Overview by James Medd, The Word, February 2012
They are "the glue" that cements the music, the mysterious put-upon souls plying their crucial trade in a cloud of dry ice by the drum-riser. ...
Interview by Ted Drozdowski, Guitar World, March 2012
His Nashville studio is full of sweet vintage gear, but Dan Auerbach isn't just a retro-obsessed guitar hound. The Black Keys guitarist gets his motor ...
Obituary by Tony Russell, The Guardian, 29 March 2012
Banjo player with a breathtaking style who shaped bluegrass and explored other genres ...
Review by James Medd, The Word, April 2012
AS A RULE, violins have no place in rock. Fairport Convention went wrong at Liege & Lief, ELO were all about the synths and 'Geno' ...
The Band, Garth Hudson, Levon Helm: Garth Hudson on Levon Helm
Memoir by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, July 2012
"THE FIRST TIME I saw Levon in action was in Woodstock, Ontario, about thirty-five miles from London, where I grew up. Ronnie and the Hawks ...
Interview by Ted Drozdowski, Guitar World, July 2012
IT'S SATURDAY NIGHT in Cleveland… April 14, specifically, and blues guitar legend Freddie King has just been inducted by Z.Z. Top into the Rock 'n' ...
The Black Keys, ZZ Top: Billy Gibbons and Dan Auerbach
Interview by Ted Drozdowski, Guitar World, October 2012
MISSISSIPPI FRED McDowell's haunted, woody voice sails through the air as the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach nurses a cup of coffee and flips through a ...
Obituary by Dave Laing, The Guardian, 3 October 2012
Session guitarist with more than 50 chart toppers to his name ...
Laurie Spiegel: Resident Visitor: Laurie Spiegel's Machine Music
Retrospective and Interview by Simon Reynolds, Pitchfork, 6 December 2012
The experimental pioneer's groundbreaking work with computers in the '70s and '80s helped lay the foundation for many of today's electronic noise makers. ...
Ginger Baker: "I came off heroin something like 29 times"
Profile and Interview by Edward Helmore, The Observer, 5 January 2013
Former Cream drummer Ginger Baker talks about his battle with heroin, how he was the original Rolling Stones drummer and being the subject of new ...
The Doors, Ray Manzarek: What a shame about Ray
Comment by Rob Steen, Rock's Backpages, 21 May 2013
"RAY RIP", texted my long-time muso pal Graham at 7am. Since neither of us, to my almost certain knowledge, has ever befriended a Raymond, my ...
Béla Fleck, Abigail Washburn: Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn
Interview by Bill DeYoung, Connect Savannah, April 2014
FROM LOUIS & Keely to John & Yoko to Derek & Susan, married couples have worked together to give us some of the most interesting ...
Mike Bloomfield: Michael Bloomfield: From His Head to His Heart to His Hands (Columbia/Legacy)
Review by Will Hermes, Rolling Stone, 13 April 2014
Anthology captures the titanic legacy of the late talent who inspired Clapton, Dylan and more. ...
Bernie Worrell: "Intergalactic synth-drenched funk" coming to Dennis Port
Report and Interview by Jim Sullivan, Cape Cod Times, 28 June 2014
HE MAY NOT be a household name, but chances are you've grooved to his music over the years. ...
Grateful Dead: Deadicated: Tom Constanten
Interview by Jeff Tamarkin, Relix, 2 September 2014
OF THE DOZEN musicians who passed through the ranks of the Grateful Dead during their three-decade run, only one full-time keyboardist survives. Yet Tom Constanten, ...
Barbara Lynn: How Barbara Lynn Changed The Blues Forever
Interview by John Morthland, Wondering Sound, 12 November 2014
BARBARA LYNN, who topped rhythm and blues charts in 1962 with 'You'll Lose a Good Thing', which also crossed over to the pop Top 10, ...
Bobby Keys, The Rolling Stones: Bobby Keys 1943-2014
Obituary by Kris Needs, Classic Rock Online, December 2014
FOR THE LAST 45 years, Bobby Keys was the closest the Rolling Stones got to sporting a sixth member; a larger-than-life force of nature blessed ...
Obituary by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 3 December 2014
Saxophone player for many of the greats of rock'n'roll, including the Rolling Stones ...
Obituary by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 4 December 2014
MUSIC HISTORY has a special niche reserved for Ian McLagan, who has died aged 69 after suffering a stroke. ...
Whiplash has put drummers in their rightful place as music's irreplaceable root
Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 16 January 2015
Drummers are finally beginning to shake their tag as 'clueless thumpers' ...
The Beatles, Ringo Starr: Ringo Starr (2015)
Interview by Paul Zollo, Rock's Backpages audio, April 2015
The Beatles' tub-thumper talks about his latest album, Postcards from Paradise; the songs he wrote for the Beatles like 'Octopus's Garden' and 'Don't Pass Me By'; on drumming, and on the way Beatles songs would evolve in the studio.
File format: mp3; file size: 19.4mb, interview length: 21' 09" sound quality: ***
The Beatles, Ringo Starr: Ringo Starr (2015) [transcript]
Transcript of audio interview by Paul Zollo, Rock's Backpages transcripts, April 2015
This is a transcription of Paul's audio interview with Ringo. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...
Obituary by Tony Russell, The Guardian, 15 May 2015
Self-deprecating but with a magisterial stage presence, King developed a style that was both innovative and rooted in blues history. ...
Jimi Hendrix and the Birth of Heavy Blues
Retrospective by Johnny Black, Blues, July 2015
LIKE ALL THE great overnight sensations, Jimi Hendrix took years to get off the ground. His was a long road to fame, from the little ...
Ginger Baker, Remi Kabaka, The Rolling Stones, Wings: Talking Drummer: An Interview with Remi Kabaka
Interview by Steve Roeser, Rock's Backpages, July 2015
ON A SATURDAY afternoon in late May, I arrive at a large outdoor sports facility on the west side of Los Angeles. There are several playing fields ...
David Lindley: Behind the Curtain: David Lindley
Profile and Interview by Steven Rosen, Rock Cellar, 9 December 2016
THERE'S AN OLD saying about traveling to the beat of your own drummer. Taking the road less walked upon. Following your own muse. Making up ...
Retrospective and Interview by Simon Reynolds, Pitchfork, 29 June 2017
Forty years after its release, the ingenious studio gurus behind the robot-funk masterpiece talk about how it came to be. ...
Live Review by Ludovic Hunter-Tilney, Financial Times, 23 January 2018
MARC RIBOT is best known for his work for other musicians. That's Ribot's off-centre, jagged guitar on Rain Dogs, Tom Waits's 1985 album, the start ...
Elvis Presley: D.J. Fontana, 1931-2018
Obituary by Tony Burke, Record Collector, August 2018
DOMINIC JOSEPH "D.J." Fontana died in Nashville on 13th June. He was aged 87 and was suffering from complications of a broken hip. From 1954 ...
Retrospective by Mitchell Cohen, Music Aficionado, 2019
SESSION PLAYERS are usually unheralded, often uncredited. If you bought the albums The Who Sing My Generation or the Kinks' Face to Face, or the ...
Dream Theater: John Petrucci: The Greatest Showman
Interview by Henry Yates, Guitarist, March 2019
Author's note: This is the original unsubbed version, as submitted to the magazine. ...
Dorris Henderson, John Renbourn: Tangled Up in Blues: John Renbourn & Dorris Henderson – the '60s
Film/DVD/TV Review by Colin Harper, The Guardian, October 2019
BY THE TIME of his fourth solo album, The Lady and the Unicorn (1970), John Renbourn was living in a thatched cottage in Hampshire and, ...
Interview by Henry Yates, Guitar Presents Acoustic, Spring 2019
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is the original unsubbed version, as submitted to the magazine. ...
Peter Green: The End Of The Game (R.I.P.)
Memoir by Gary Lucas, Please Kill Me!, 3 August 2020
Peter Green, inheritor of Eric Clapton's spot in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and co-founder of Fleetwood Mac, was, said B.B. King, "the only guitarist who gives ...
Denny Laine, Wings: "I'm actually surprised we're that well-remembered": Denny Laine on Wings
Interview by Bill DeMain, Guitar World, January 2023
1973 was the year Paul McCartney's ragtag group, Wings, first scored Beatles-sized success. As late guitarist Denny Laine recalled, they were no overnight success. ...
back to LIBRARY